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Pluto Press is to publish the speeches of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, edited by Fred Hampton Jr and Bedour Alagraa.
I am a Revolutionary: Fred Hampton Speaks records the speeches delivered by the organisation's deputy chairman in Chicago and across America during the movement for Black liberation in the 1960s. The publication will mark the first time the collection has appeared in print. The speeches explore the oppression of race and class, and Hampton's commitment to internationalism. The book will publish in October.
Described as "one of the most promising young Black radical leaders of the 20th century", Hampton's talents drew the attention of the FBI, which assassinated him at his home, aged 21.
Commissioning editor David Shulman acquired world rights direct from the joint editors. He said: "This volume forcefully demonstrates Fred Hampton’s legacy as not only an activist and orator, but also as one of the foremost Black radical intellectuals of his time and ours. His words remain all too relevant today, not least for his contributions to understanding the relationship between race and class, and his commitment to internationalism and multiracial coalition-building. All of us at Pluto are thrilled to be working with editors Fred Hampton Jr and Bedour Alagraa on this important book that will make Hampton’s bracing speeches available to a new generation of activists."
Alagraa added: "This collection of speeches is long overdue, and will give all of us another opportunity to study chairman Fred Hampton’s ideas as he expressed them. In a moment where Fred Hampton’s name is evoked in the popular imagination by reducing his complex thought to sound-bytes, his own words provide a measure of clarity.”